A Ra’anana family was poisoned last year in a suspected terror attack carried out in the family’s home, police said on Sunday.

The suspects are Palestinian Adnan Otman Nas’ara from the West Bank and two Israeli Arabs from Tirah, who police say broke into the Lerner family’s home, stole valuables and then poisoned food and drinks with a toxic pesticide.

Ayal Lerner, his wife, their two children, the children’s grandmother, and a police officer who answered the burglary call, all fell ill after drinking one of the contaminated liquids.

Mr Lerner spent two weeks in a serious condition in hospital, while the other victims were lightly affected and recovered shortly after the attack.

Police said the three suspects broke into the house after working on renovations in the family’s building.
Mr Lerner said on Sunday that he had previously spoken with one of the men while he was at work, and that the poisoning of his family “doesn’t increase your faith in humanity, and certainly not your faith in the fragile co-existence that we have in this country”.

Mr Lerner compared the poisoning to some of Israel’s most infamous terror attacks.

All three suspects are expected to face charges of attempted murder, breaking and entering, theft and conspiracy to commit a crime.